Install Wire

You can signup with Wire using either an email address or a phone number. This information is only used by you to login to the app, this information is not shared with any of your contacts. If you are not comfortable giving out this information to Wire, then I would recommend that you instead Install WickrMe

Choose which method you want to use to signup:

Use an email address:

First Register at their website
Next Download and install Wire on the computer or phone you wish to use it on.
Log into the app using your email address and password.

Use a phone number:

On your phone Download and install Wire from the Android Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Register for Wire using the app
Log into the app using your phone number and password.

Once you have Wire installed and you are signed in, one of the first things you should do is disable usage and crash reports. This is additional information sent to the Wire company about how you use the app and information about app crashes. This is optional and reducing the amount of information you send helps improve your privacy. To disable this feature follow these steps:

Click on your photo in the top left corner of the Wire app
Select "Settings", then "Account", then "Data Usage Permissions"
Turn off the toggle switch next to "Send Anonymous Data"
While there you can also disable the option to "Receive Newsletter" if you do not want that.

One great feature of Wire is “Timed Messages”. These are messages that will automatically delete after a set amount of time from all devices that the message was sent to. If you do not care to keep a complete history of all your chat sessions then it is a good idea to set your messages to delete, otherwise they may sit around on any device potentially forever. Cleaning up information you don’t need any more is another good privacy habit. To enable timed messages, enter an existing chat session you have with someone. To the right of where you type your message you will see a little stopwatch icon. Click on this and you can set how long you want a message to stay around until it is automatically deleted. You can choose varous timeframes up to 4 weeks. I usually set mine to 4 weeks, so if I do need to go back to an older message I have 4 weeks to do so. I wish it were a little longer but you can only choose the options the app gives you.

If you have any questions about using Wire you can visit the Wire Support website